


Don't you ever grow up (Just stay this little)

by onethingsuniversal



Category: The Prom (2020), The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Baby’s Firsts, F/F, First day of preschool, Fluff, Memories, Reminiscing, SO MUCH FLUFF, Very sentimental sappy parents, almost too much fluff, greenlan as parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28512825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onethingsuniversal/pseuds/onethingsuniversal
Summary: It’s the night before Emma & Alyssa’s daughter, Rosie, starts preschool and they’re very emotional about it.orThey remember all of Rosie’s firsts and cry about it.
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	Don't you ever grow up (Just stay this little)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! I literally cannot stop writing Greenlan fluff. And Rosie is my new favourite thing ever.
> 
> Shoutout, again, to Kate (AnotherUsernameIllForget) for helping develop the best toddler ever, and for inspiring some of this!
> 
> We will never stop writing Rosie-Fics, ever, so prepare yourselves.
> 
> Anyway! Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> ( title from Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift (again)) ( blame Kate (again))

When Emma got into their bedroom that night her wife had already turned off the main light, the small lamp was the only source of light in the room, and she was laying quietly, almost too quietly, on her side of the bed. She’d only just finished settling Rosie into bed, caving in and reading her an extra story or two when she’d asked, like usual, that evening, so it was a little later then it usually would be. But Emma didn’t mind, not tonight, if anything she enjoyed reading for those further ten minutes. It was one of her favourite things to do, just hold her little girl close as they got lost in some fantasy world together. Plus, as she’d gotten bigger Rosie had been less and less willing to sit quietly and cuddle her mama - much to Emma’s dismay- so their time in the evening together was precious.

The air in the room seemed thick with all sorts of emotions, so she set about getting herself ready for bed as quickly as she could, craving some sort of comfort from Alyssa, who she was sure was feeling the same kind of things as she was. And 10 minutes, a shower, and a fresh set of pyjamas later, Emma was slipping into bed and switching off the lamp that sat next to the bed, plunging the mothers into darkness. They sat silently for a minute, their hands finding each others under the comforter and interlocking tightly.

Alyssa was the first to break. She tried to stifle her quiet sob in her palm but it was no use, Emma heard her and squeezed her hand before letting go and wordlessly opening her arms to her. The tearful brunette rolled over, quickly burying her head into her wife’s chest as she cried. Emma stroked comforting patterns across her back, humming a melody that had been floating around her brain for a little while in an attempt to calm her down.

“Are you okay, my love?” She whispered, the answer was pretty obvious from the tears she could feel soaking through her nightshirt, but it was more an invitation meaning ‘would you like to talk about it’.

Alyssa lifted her head weakly, making eye contact with Emma, who’s heart broke as she saw her dark eyes brimming with tears.

“She- she’s just growing up so fast a-and I hate it-“ Alyssa choked out before dissolving into another puddle of tears.

This was enough to tip Emma over the edge, and she soon found sobs of her own falling from her throat. The couple laid there for a while, just crying together, it was definitely a needed emotional release, so they just held onto each other as they felt their feelings along side one another. 

The women had loved becoming parents more than anything else they’d ever done. Seeing their daughter grow up over the past three years had been nothing short of a privilege, but the fact that she was starting preschool the next morning was very overwhelming for everyone, apart from Rosie. She was excited, she’d met her teacher, and she had a few little friends from various mother & baby classes they’d been a part of over the years. But her moms were feeling quite the opposite about it. Because, to them, it felt like it was only yesterday that she had been born. Snapshots of her life sped through Emma’s brain, as she held on tightly to her, still crying, wife. Deciding it was best for both of them if they processed these feelings out loud, instead of internalising them how they so famously often found themselves doing in the past, so she spoke up, voice thick with tears,

“Remember when we took her home? To the old apartment... she was so tiny, in the little sloth outfit that your mom bought us..”

“The cutest baby sloth I ever did see, she didn’t even have a name yet” Alyssa chuckled lightly, tears still threatening to keep spilling down her cheeks, but the happy memory brought her some comfort. 

Emma’s mention of that day triggered her own recollections from the same time. She remembered how utterly terrified Emma had been to drive the pair home from the hospital. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be driven that slowly in a car again, but she had to admit watching her wife concentrating all of her energy on safety taking them home without waking up a newborn, sleeping Rosie and without causing Alyssa anymore discomfort then necessary, she fell in love just a little bit more with her, if that was even possible. And the warm, cosy, complete feeling she felt that night as they began to settle into their new life as parents would something she would cherish and remember forever. 

It took a further week for them to finally agree on a name, Alyssa wanted something more traditional, classic, whereas Emma thought they should give her something a little more out there and artsy. After a particularly long evening of name discussing, they both very much regretted not having more in depth conversations about names in the previous 9 months they’d had to prepare. Out of all of the names in the tens of baby name books they’d checked out of the library at various points, they couldn’t agree on a single one. Alyssa remorse and exasperation over the conversations they didn’t have only grew more intense when Emma suggested randomly generating a name using one of those fruit machine things on the internet. There was no way in hell Alyssa would agree to that, ever, not when she had a whole list of pretty, meaningful names they could chose from. But they eventually settled on one of Emma’s less out-there suggestions- Rosalie. Mostly because it was the one thing they both could agree on and they needed to register her birth but Alyssa had to agree with Emma, it was beautiful and it seemed to fit their tiny human pretty perfectly.

“What about her first word... remember that? We were both so confused” Alyssa piped up, laughing quietly at the memory, still holding on tightly to her wife who she could feel chuckling lightly underneath her.

“Of course the baby with two moms chooses ‘dada’ for her first word.. she’d literally never heard the word dad in her life before.” Emma paused to laugh at the funny memory, playing with one of Alyssa’s loose curls as she thought back. They’d spent hours of their lives chanting ‘mamama’ to the infant as soon as she had started babbling, only to be greeted with a loud, and very proud ‘dada’. Alyssa had been at home with her when it first happened, she was at first too blinded by the pride that she felt for her daughter, convinced she was the smartest 6 month old to ever grace the planet. And had been so excited to show off Rosie’s new party trick to her mama when she got home from work. Emma, of course, had been equally as impressed and felt that same pride fill her when she first heard the words come from the babies lips. Though she’d been quicker to catch on to the humour behind it, and it had ended up with the two of them laughing their heads off for half an hour, and also prompted the discovery of Rosie’s belly laugh. She found her moms laughing at her seemingly hilarious, and for the rest of the evening, the little family emanated happiness.

“She picked up mama soon enough though- and I definitely felt like the superior parent for a little while, even if she did just call us both that until she could differentiate” Emma admitted, causing Alyssa to laugh again

“Of course you did, if we’re admitting things.. I was a little jealous that she was saying ‘your name’ first and regretted choosing to be mommy- even if that’s totally ridiculous” Alyssa said, wiping her damp cheeks on Emma’s top, though her tears had been replaced with those of laughter, and the same lump in her throat had dissipated alps to completely. Emma responded with a snort, and kissed her wife’s forehead affectionately.

“I’ll always remember when you found her first tooth. You gave me a heart attack I swear- I don’t think I’ve ever moved that fast in my life.. I thought something was actually wrong” Emma continued, not quite ready to finish their trip down memory lane, despite how late it was getting. Although in the moment it was terrifying, the image of herself tripping down the corridor as she rushed to the nursery was a little funny to reflect on.

“I’m sorrrrry, but it was just so exciting! It’s not like I was waking anybody up, even if it was 4am, you were awake, I was awake, Ro was awake. Plus it took her long enough to finally cut it.. she was like 10 months old. How she managed to eat everything she did with just her gums is beyond me, because let’s be honest it didn’t stop her” Alyssa responded, screaming in the middle of the night because she’d seen a tooth in her daughters otherwise empty mouth that she’d been able to feel for weeks, maybe wasn’t her brightest idea. But it was exciting, and once Emma had recovered from the shock and relief she’d been bombarded with, they’d had a little dance party and then had taken Rosie into their room, a one off for a very special occasions, all fallen asleep together back in their bed.

The mention of Rosie eating pulled forward a whole host of memories from the depth of Emma’s brain. It had been one of Emma’s favourite parts of her first year as a mom. Seeing Rosie get so excited when she got to sit with them in a high chair when they took her to restaurants and cafes around the city. The little excited squeals as she accepted a fistful of whatever her moms were eating, sucking and chewing on it happily. Emma’s favourite memory was from a Waffle House that they frequented quiet often. Emma always ordered the classic pancake stack, Alyssa teased her relentlessly for it, telling her to ‘try something new’ or whatever, but she never listened. She knew what she liked and she liked what she knew. So of course, once Rosie had passed her six month birthday, it was one of the first restaurants they took her too. And the pure joy she’d gotten from watching their baby munch on a strip of pancake Emma had cut off for her, was enough to sustain her for a lifetime. Alyssa joked that Emma had forced Rosie into a lifetime of only eating pancakes at breakfast: but what was wrong with that?

“And then she started walking, and the rest is history.. even if she did take her time doing so” Alyssa said, with a slight sigh, she wasn’t sure if it was just residual emotion from the sheer amount of tears that preempted this whole trip down memory lane, but there was something bitter sweet about tracing through their daughters life like this.

“She must’ve been 18 months old before she properly starting walking? Lazy kid- we were so optimistic after she took her first steps right around her birthday, but she just wasn’t interested” Emma expanded on what Alyssa had said. It was funny to think that the crazy, high energy toddler they knew and loved now, had once refused to walk more than a couple of steps at a time, simply because she didn’t want to.

Rosie had taken her first steps on the weekend of her first birthday party, surrounded by their closest friends. Barry, Trent, DeeDee, Angie were all their, cheering on the baby, who very much enjoyed the attention she was getting. She’d toddled around perfectly well throughout the remainder of the party, but in the following weeks Emma and Alyssa quickly realised she wasn’t interested in walking, seemingly because there wasn’t a crowd. Of course they continued to encourage her, and she’d take the occasional few steps to grab something she wasn’t supposed to off of a shelf or to get to one of her moms. But why would she walk? Not when being carried by her mommy was much less effort, and being pushed in her stroller was far more comfortable.

By the time she reached a year and a half, she was confidently wandering around their apartment, and then around the new house when they moved slightly out of the city, to a cute suburb with quaint little houses that each had a pretty sizeable garden. Once she had access to a slide and a sandbox that her parents hadn’t been able to resist buying, she had no issue running around, let alone walking.

They returned back to the same silence they’d first found themselves in, this time slightly more content as they let the happy memories mill around for a while. Each of them deep in reflection as they thought about the journey they’d been on with their daughter.

“She’ll be okay won’t she?” Alyssa asked Emma, her voice sounded small and fragile again.

“Oh she’ll be perfectly fine- us? Not so much, but that’s ok. It does feel like we’re loosing our baby a little bit” Emma acknowledged, wrapping her arm tightly back around Alyssa.

“She doesn’t even let me call her ‘baby’ anymore... but no matter how old she gets she’ll always be our baby, right?” Alyssa replied, even know deep down she knew the answer, no amount of time could ever stop her from her seeing that same tiny newborn every time she looked at her.

“Always Lys, no matter if she’s in preschool or she’s a freshman in high school, she’ll always be our tiny one” Emma hummed, though the thought of her three year old being eventually old enough to go to high school filled her with a whole other type of dread- but now was not the time to address that, it was only preschool, she could just about deal with that today.

Alyssa relaxed into Emma, yawning as she got comfortable on top of her. She was glad they’d taken the time to reminisce but she could feel the exhaustion of the day setting in, and she soon found herself slipping out of consciousness and into a wonderful dream world full of baby Rosie and her beautiful wife. 

———

The next morning Alyssa and Emma were woken up by a very excited three year old. They coaxed her into bed with them for a little cuddle before they had to get up, and face the big event of the day. Both parents had decided to take the morning off, so they didn’t have to rush too much, and Emma had made a reservation at a nice cafe for brunch- a bid to hopefully distract themselves from the post drop-off emotions.

An hour and a half, a small breakdown about what outfit would be ideal for preschool, a pint-sized bowl of cereal, and a surprising lack of tears from her moms, and Rosie was ready to face the day. She stood by the front door as Alyssa fussed over her pigtails and Emma tried to get her attention for a photo. The exasperated toddler was clutching her Tiana backpack and Star Wars lunchbox, that she’d been very excited to pick them out from the store. She didn’t understand what all the fuss was about, but she went with it, and was soon happily skipping down the street in the rough direction of the school her parents had carefully picked out after months of deliberation. If they were going to send their baby somewhere 4 days a week, it had to be perfect. 

The drop off was smooth sailing, almost too much so, and as they saw Rosie eagerly bundle over to her new teacher who was standing outside the brightly coloured classroom- a small part of Alyssa wished she’d look back at them with a semi-tearful smile. But nothing, Rosie had been ready for this for a while, and deep down she was glad that it hadn’t been traumatic for their daughter. ‘This is a good thing’ Alyssa kept repeating to herself as they stood at the back of the playground and watched her enter the school building. The parents waited for a few minutes, holding tightly onto each other’s hands but not say a word, and after a sufficient amount of time had passed they made their way back out of the front gates. Alyssa was the first to pipe up after the nervous silence, voicing a thought that had been swimming around her head since the night before...

“So, when are we having another one?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you endlessly for reading!! Comments and kudos appreciated - alongside any future fic ideas that include Rosie!!


End file.
